


vintage frames and odd circumstances

by ribbonelle



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007), Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, First Meetings, Gen, Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 01:23:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5689180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ribbonelle/pseuds/ribbonelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He supposed his guard was low whenever he was flying in Earth’s skies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	vintage frames and odd circumstances

**Author's Note:**

> hoo boy how long has it been??? very long. anyways this was a kink meme prompt but i didn’t feel like writing porn for this so instead, you get tfa autobot politics, science, and starscream insights. and also just. cheesiness. starscream is a little off here, i gotta say. there’s a lot of loopholes. but!! heck. whatever here it is haha
> 
> i honestly had no idea for a title so ha sorry

Starscream hated Earth. 

He truly loathed it, the atmosphere was too thick, the weather was _ridiculous,_ he couldn’t fly for 5 kliks without turbulence messing up his flight pattern. It was worse still that he was stuck on the stupid planet, or at least its moon. The moon wasn’t so bad, but he did have to venture to Earth every now and then for resources. Megatron was also on Earth, and if Starscream wanted to take him down permanently, he needed to spy on the mech on a regular basis. He didn’t have enough fuel to fly back to Cybertron, or any other planet that was close enough to refuel. He hated Earth, but there was nowhere else he could go for the time being.

In the time that he was on Earth, though, he had figured out what to look out for when he was flying. Earth didn’t have naturally-occurring hazards like acid rain, and there wasn’t really anything that would cause him severe harm in the air.

He supposed the fact caused him to lower his guard whenever he was flying in Earth’s skies.

So when he suddenly found himself unable to control his movements; there had been a flash of light and his engines just died mid-air; Starscream had to curse himself for being lax with his surroundings. He careened towards the ground, desperately trying to restart his engines but to no avail. Something had hit him. It was good that he couldn’t die, though the eventual crash would hurt like slag; Starscream just offlined his optics and waited for impact.

The crash landing was bad, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. He had inevitably collided with some trees, the branches scoring spirals of metal and paint from him, but the ground he dropped onto was soft enough to spare him extreme damage.

He transformed frantically when he could, firing up his turbines but they only sputtered helplessly. Starscream pushed himself up to stand, forcing his frame to carry his weight so he could start running. He didn’t know what or who hit him, but it couldn’t be good news.

He did run for about 3 seconds, before something wrapped around his legs and caused him to fall onto his face, once again. Starscream spat curses into the dirt, prepared to push himself up and bolt, but a net fell over him like a veil. Electricity crackled through it and Starscream was _slammed_ to the ground, the net as heavy as an entire planet.

“ _WHO THE FRAG—“_ he screeched, furious, unable to even move a single joint. It was Megatron, he was sure. Shockwave probably helped him get rid of Starscream once and for all, cooked up some fancy new devices specifically to terminate a Seeker because this was _ridiculous._ Starscream was about to scream even louder, prepared to curse Megatron with every insult in his repertoire when grey pedes entered his field of vision, and white plating above them. Unfamiliar plating. And the pedes were _big._

The left side of Starscream’s face was pressed to the ground, and he couldn’t lift his face to properly see the mechanism standing before him. As if the stranger read his thoughts, the pedes shifted and they kneeled down, leaning closer. Starscream still couldn’t see their face, what with his position, but he did notice the rectangular wings on the stranger’s back. Something was off with his captor’s design.

This mechanism was oddly blocky.

“Hello there. I apologize for doing this to you, but I’m afraid it is a necessity. I have been warned that there are Decepticons roaming Earth. I have no doubts that you are one.”

Starscream’s optics strained to see the stranger’s face. He couldn’t, not from this angle, but he was positive that the mechanism was a shuttle, or some kind of carrier class. He had that particular size. And was probably an Autobot, considering how disgustingly gentle his voice was. “How did you get me down here?”

The shuttle paused, but reached into a subspace in his arm to retrieve an elaborate-looking blaster, “I disabled your thrusters with this sonic stun gun. It has quite an extensive range, apparently.”

“How are you keeping me down right now?”

“Electromagnetization. It’ll be a while before the effects wear off, and even then, it is rechargeable. But do not worry; I will not be harming you. All I need is—“

Starscream had no time for that, “Look, _shuttle_ , spare me your winded explanations and just take me in already. You’re obviously an Autobot, and an old model one, at that. What are you, vintage?”

The stranger was quiet for a moment, before sighing softly, “It’s quite difficult to talk considering our positions, isn’t it? A moment, please.”

He shifted on his knees, lifting his arm up and seemed to be rummaging for something in his subspace. Starscream looked around for an escape, wriggled around a bit. There was nothing. He probably had to use his wits to get out of this situation.

The shuttle made a pleased noise suddenly, and reached a hand out, over Starscream’s frame where he couldn’t see, “Here we go.”

The net demagnetized with a low thrum, and something slithered across Starscream’s back right after, not giving him any room to even think. His arms were pulled together tightly behind his back, and the same rope-like thing tied his legs together with a snap. The ropes crackled with electricity. The net over him was no longer heavy, but he was a captive all the same. Starscream was begrudgingly impressed.

He tried firing his thrusters anyway. It didn’t work. Large hands reached over and gently pulled him up by the shoulders then, sitting him upright. The stranger even went as far as to wipe some dirt off of his plating. The touch to his frame was _still_ inexplicably gentle.

“This is much better, I believe. You’re not going anywhere for a while, though. Might as well make yourself comfortable.”

Starscream finally looked at his captor.

He really _was_ an old model, Starscream couldn’t even remember the last time he saw a frame type like this. His surprise might have been obvious, considering the shuttle’s amused smile.

“I haven’t upgraded my frame in a while. It’s mostly because I’ve been on alien planets for a few millennia, doing research. I simply didn’t have the time.”

The shuttle was blocky and had sharp edges, in comparison to Starscream’s curves and aerodynamic shape. There was an extra part on his face, too, which seemed wild to Starscream. What was it for? It didn’t make sense. He had the typical blue optics anyhow, and a pleasant face. Somewhat pleasant.

“I’m Skyfire, by the way,” the shuttle continued, “It’d be nice if you’d tell me your designation, too.”

Starscream contemplated lying. But it was a little unsettling that a Cybertronian who didn’t recognize who he was existed; he was the Decepticon SIC, everyone should know who he was. “Starscream. So what are you, a scientist?”

Skyfire nodded, smiling still, “Yes. Of xenobiology, mainly. I used to be an independent scientist, but since my recent return to Cybertron, I’ve discovered that things had changed drastically. You’re an Autobot, a Decepticon, or neither. And NAILs don’t have access to laboratories. Do Decepticons have a research department?”

Starscream had to smirk, amused, “Why, you interested in joining?”

“I’m considering my options.” Skyfire shrugged, his smile quirked into a smirk as well.

Starscream assessed his situation. Here was a shuttle who probably had zero combat experience, and didn’t know much about the war or the Allspark or Starscream himself. But he was a scientist, and was apparently on a mission to shoot down fliers for…Primus knows what kind of fragged up research. He was very pleasant to talk to for some reason, had a nice smile, and was probably the biggest mech Starscream had ever seen. But that wasn’t relevant. Not the last part, anyway. What was important was that Starscream had to leave and Skyfire would remain ignorant of the fact that Starscream had no spark. And perhaps Starscream could find out Skyfire’s comm. frequency.

It had been a while since Starscream met someone who was this unaffected by the war, it felt like they were at a retreat somewhere, flirting; give him a break.

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

“So what do you want with me? Am I your prisoner now? What are they giving you for taking in the great Starscream, anyway, are you set up for life?”

Skyfire reset his optics visibly, taken aback at the sudden change in their conversation. His lip components twisted a little in his confusion, but Starscream paid no mind to that.

“Well, no. I’m hardly an Autobot warrior or a fighter, and those weren’t my orders at all. I’m on Earth to gather information, especially for the enhancement of our experimental subjects back in Cybertron. And you’re an amazing flier, Starscream, I almost thought you were new artificial technology the humans had come up with, from how unreal you were in the air. I realize that my methods of coaxing you down weren’t exactly conventional—“

“You grounded me.”

“Yes, I did,” Skyfire said a little sheepishly, “But it was the only way I could think of at the time. And I know that there’s the whole war going on between the Autobots and Decepticons, but I was thinking that perhaps we could put that aside for science? Are you willing to be a part of my research, Starscream? I guarantee you’ll be compensated for your trouble, and I wouldn’t do anything that would harm you.”

Starscream had to laugh. He laughed, and bared his dentae at Skyfire, “Now that’s just _hilarious._ ”

It was satisfying to see Skyfire stumble over his words, “I, uh. P-pardon me?”

“I’ve _participated_ in the Autobots’ research before. I was not compensated, and I was not unharmed. Why would it be any different with you?”

Skyfire seemed honestly stumped. It was delightful. This was Starscream’s ticket out.

“…What do you mean, Starscream?”

Starscream offlined his optics for a few seconds, deliberately. He onlined them again and kept a neutral expression, “I was taken by force once, experimented on, violated. They ran so many tests on me I thought they’d kill me. They took my flight coding, did things with it without my consent, and it was pure luck that I was able to break out of that ship. The Autobots sure know how to treat their guests right.”

Slight exaggeration, but not that far from the truth either. Skyfire seemed downright horrified. It was fascinating, really, how much Starscream was learning about the Autobots throughout this exchange.

“Don’t believe me, I don’t care. But don’t expect me to just waltz into your labs, no matter what you promise me. Autobots are all the same.”

Skyfire was silent, and Starscream let him be. He had to play this just right.

The shuttle seemed conflicted, as he should be. That was a common reaction in mechanisms new to the war. It was a little refreshing.

“I have made a mistake,” Skyfire said at last, shaking his head, “I didn’t know they—Primus. I’m going to let you go.”

Starscream raised an optic ridge, “You do realize that you literally caused me to crash mid-air, right? You could always just do it again, when you change your mind.”

Slowly, Skyfire lifted his arms and opened his subspace, taking out the blaster that had taken down Starscream. He took that, the net, and a couple of other devices Starscream wasn’t familiar with, and set them onto the ground. He pushed them away to the left, away from the both of them and resettled to where he was, moving carefully, as if Starscream needed to be handled in a gentle way.

Smart mech.

“There. I can’t reach it from here. Nor can you. You’re still a Decepticon, I’m afraid, and I don’t know what you’re capable of. Then again, you don’t know what I’m capable of either,” Skyfire smiled a little, “But that’s not the priority. You should go. I will, too, I have questions to ask.”

He took one last thing from his subspace; a small, white device; and pressed a button on it. Starscream noticed the give in the ropes binding him right away, the slight crackling noise in them disappearing, an indication that he was now free. Skyfire tossed the device in the direction of all his other gadgets, “Free to go, Starscream. I believe your thrusters should be functional by now. I apologize for everything.”

Free to go, indeed. Starscream flexed his wrists, the rope falling off of him easily. He kept his optics on Skyfire the entire time he freed himself from his loosened bindings, acutely aware of every minute shift Skyfire made. Skyfire was very unthreatening now. He seemed apologetic. Despite him looking like something from the history textbooks, he was also weirdly pleasant to look at. It was odd.

Starscream stood up, tested his thrusters. They were definitely working again. He could leave right now, just fly away and forget he was ever grounded by some old model nerd shuttle.

He didn’t. Not yet.

Instead, he crawled closer to Skyfire, slowly enough to assure the shuttle that he wasn’t going to attack, close to the ground since Skyfire was kneeling. Skyfire seemed on guard nevertheless (smart mech). Starscream stopped before him, watching him carefully, then reached up.

“…Starscream?” Skyfire asked, but Starscream simply touched his chest, claws resting on the glass of Skyfire’s cockpit. The mech really was big, it was even more apparent when they were close to each other, like this.

“I could kill you so easily right now,” Starscream said in a sigh, internally relishing at Skyfire’s obvious stiffening, “But I won’t. You’re kinda cute.” He smirked then, scratching a little line on the glass of Skyfire’s front. Flicked imaginary dust from the claw he used and then stood up, took a few steps back.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Skyfire. Hope I’ll never see you again.”

He started up his thrusters and immediately shot up into the air, looped once in the sky just so Skyfire could see how magnificent he is before flying away. Showing off was little embarrassing in retrospect, considering how he was brought down earlier. But at least he left alive and unscathed, and looked fragging cool while doing it.

The day had an interesting turn of events, Starscream thought. It had been a while since he met anyone remotely interesting. He didn’t have time for messing around, however, so he wasn’t going to be thinking about the shuttle he left in the dust down below too much. He really did hope he’d never see Skyfire again.

(But maybe in a world where he ruled the Decepticons and Megatron was dead, then perhaps…)


End file.
